Bacon Wrapped Filet Mignon Recipe

Filet mignon is a meat cut from an animal’s tenderloin. In America, filet mignon is associated with beef, but in France, it’s usually referred to pork tenderloin. In English, it means dainty filet. It’s usually called dainty since the meat is very tender and rough handling could easily damage it. The tenderloin is a small piece of meat which looks like a snake and is found on both sides of the animal’s spine near the rear. This muscle doesn’t carry any weight and receives little or no exercise causing the meat in this area to become very tender.

The tenderloin is quite lean of fat that’s why it has a tendency of becoming too dry when overcooked. A solution to this problem is by wrapping a piece of bacon on the steak. Usually, the bacon is taken away from the filet mignon and not included in serving. If you’re hesitating about serving filet which is bacon-wrapped, you can always remove it before serving. Otherwise, you can let your guests savor the filet as well as the bacon. Just remember to take away the toothpick holding the filet and bacon together.

Your Guide To Making Bacon-Wrapped Filet Mignon (Recipe)

• Check your meat for any fat or silver skin left around the steaks’ outside part. Use a sharp knife to take it away without taking away any meat in the process. If you’ve purchased the entire tenderloin, the tenderloin’s smaller end is the filet mignon. Trim your steaks and cut them the exact width of the bacon. You need to season the steaks first before wrapping it. Just keep everything simple. Use fresh-crackled black pepper and see salt for season. Gently rub them on the steak.
• After having been seasoned and ready to go, next thing to do is use the bacon to wrap around the filet mignon. Choose quality bacon that’s fresh and wide enough to cover the steak’s entire exterior. There are wide cuts of steak which are also narrower, therefore, you need to make sure that it is even throughout. For one steak, one piece of bacon is enough. You just need to wrap it around firmly but not tight, just snug enough. To hold the bacon in place, stick a toothpick through the portion which is overlapping. You should see that the filets are quite round now. This is one of the added bonuses of wrapping them. The round shape would give an added appeal to your steak.
• Put frying pan on a stove set on a medium heat while the oven is heating up to 400 degrees F. Melt some butter in the pan and keep stirring it until the foam disappears. Once the pan and the butter are ready, lay a couple of filets. As much as possible, there must be as much pan space as the meat. This way, there will be sufficient hot spot where you can flip your steak to. Turn a hood fan if you happen to have one. Otherwise, just open your window for continuous air movement. The steaks should be fried until they become brown or dark brown. Turn them over the unused part of the pan and repeat the cooking process.
• Once all the steaks are cooked, turn the stove off and put back all the steaks on the pan. You will finish cooking your filet mignons in the oven. To have them according to your preference, you can check them with a thermometer as they are cooking. If you happen to have a digital probe which you can place in the oven, much better. If you don’t have one, just remember to check your steaks before you put them in and then intervals of 5-10 minutes once they are inside the 400 degree F oven. The following would serve as a guide for different cooking preference of the meat: 120-125 degrees for rare meat, 140-150 degrees for medium meat and around 160-170 degrees for well done.